The New Christians

November 2008 Archives

Several commenters have questioned my inclusion of the “B” in GLBTQ, suggesting that bisexual persons don’t fit under the monogamy that I endorse. But PSUdain clarifies on my behalf: There seems to be a running confusion here about the nature […]

As those of us who are Western Christians begin Advent, I want to encourage you and your church to consider joining the Advent Conspiracy: [UPDATE: Leadership Network has a nice history of the Advent Conspiracy. HT: Emergent Village.]

I have become a huge fan of Pandora, and, I must say, I believe it has changed my music-listening habits for good. For those of you who don’t know, Pandora is part of the Music Genome Project — basically, it’s […]

I won’t be blogging about same sex marriage this weekend, and I don’t know if Rod will nor not. But, in the meantime, I thought I’d point you to a couple other spots where I’ve found some good thoughts: Eugene […]

Having written yesterday’s essay on my childhood Thanksgivings in Gaylord, my spirit was tugged to drive out to the little town on the plains before all of the holiday festivities got underway. So I climbed in my vehicle and drove […]

For years, it was always the same. Around 8:45 in the morning, we’d pile in the station wagon and head over to church, greeted there by a couple high school students dressed as pilgrims and playing snare drums. Inside, our […]

Rev Dave writes, “Keep rocking the quadrilateral” Ha! +1 tripp! As a transplanted Methodist, I had a similar thought (and we were just this week teaching the quad to our Confirmation class). Though I wasn’t brought up in that tradition, […]

There’s a new hashtag in the Twitterverse that’s attracting a lot of attention. It’s called “Twitter of Faith,” the hashtag is #TOF, and the idea is that Tweeters would write out what they believe in 140 characters or less. If […]

I’m adding another one today since I found what BudCath had to say interesting: Thanks for your comments. I would love for America to be guided by golden rule, but it is not and never has been. Indians, slavery, jim […]

Sean gets right to the point — a point that Rod and I will explore much more in coming weeks. Nine biblical citations are customarily invoked as relating to homosexuality. Four (Deuteronomy 23:17, 1 Kings 14:24, I Kings 22:46 and […]

I’m going to start a new feature here at The New Christians. Every day — well, almost every day — I’ll post what I consider to be a thoughtful comment that truly adds to the conversation, or a witty comment, […]

Rod, thanks for your last post; actually I agree with you: our government does legislate morality. In fact, that’s why I think that it’s imperative that we seriously consider the moral implications of denying same sex couples the right to […]

As we begin the week, here’s a round-up of the blogalogue entries so far: Tony’s Pre-Blogalogue Posts: Taking the Offline Online It’s Not about Me The Limits of Blogging Is It Inevitable? Emotions The Blogalogue Proper Tony: How I Went […]

I am sorry to report that Stephen Baldwin is staying in the United States. Baldwin, a B-list celebrity and convert to conservative evangelicalism, had declared to Fox News that if Barack Obama won the presidency, he would move out of […]

Hi there. Welcome to my blog. You may have found it because it’s been posted on some conservative website, and you feel it’s your duty to steer readers away from my false teaching. Well, you’re welcome to do so. But, […]

Rod, it was great to meet you and sit on your front porch drinking coffee. Actually, it was even more wonderful to meet Julie and the kids, your chickens, and your incapacitated dog. I appreciated reading your story, and I’ll […]

Dear New Christians Readers, Last week we implemented a small change to our blog commenting system – you now have to confirm that you are a real person, and not a spammer, by typing in a few characters of text […]

I met Rod yesterday, and we had a great time sitting on his porch, drinking coffee. I can say, with all candor, that I thoroughly enjoyed his company and now consider him a friend. I’m working on a post today […]

Rod, as I mentioned to you in an email, I thought it might be interesting to start our same sex marriage blogalogue by telling a bit of our stories — about how we came to our respective positions on the […]

Same sex marriage is an emotional issue to begin with, and the stakes have been significantly upped by the passage of Prop 8. So I have no doubt that my blogalogue with Rod (which I intend to start tomorrow, on […]

I imagine that I’ve got a smattering of new readers now that I’ve moved to Bnet, so let me reiterate my blogging rules, which I first iterated at theoblogy.blogspot.com and then at tonyj.net. 1) I do not edit my posts, […]

My soon-to-be-blogalogue partner, Rod Dreher, has today questioned Barack Obama’s profession of Christian faith based on a snippet of a 2004 interview in which BO refers to Jesus as a “bridge between God and man.” Of course, BO is not […]

If you don’t know it, getting “dooced,” means getting fired for blogging something that your employer finds odious. It’s a term coined by Heather Armstrong, who now blogs full time at dooce.com. Today, Scot McKnight blogs an email from a […]

One question I’ve been asked repeatedly is whether the issue of same sex marriage is inevitably shifting toward cultural acceptance. Yes, it is. As Kevin Drum pointed out last May in Washington Monthly, the American populace is shifting on same […]

I’m a real fan of the blogging medium, and I’m actually becoming more so. But I think it’s only one medium in a panoply of media that help us to engage an issue like same sex marriage. Blogs are good, […]

In advance of my blogalogue with Rod Dreher, I want to get something off my chest. I will write about this once and only once. That is, this conversation about same sex marriage is not about me. I am heterosexual, […]

Like a lot of Christians, I’ve been thinking about, praying about, and talking to others about my response to the passage of Proposition 8 in California. Beginning next week, I’ll be entering into a Beliefnet blogoalogue about same sex marriage […]

There’s been lots of talk in the last couple weeks in the punditocracy about the the above question. The talking heads seem to have come to two consensi (with, of course, notable exceptions): The United States is a “center-right” country […]

Last Saturday night, rain and general fatigue scuttled my plans to head into Manhattan, so my hosts and I went to see the film, Rachel Getting Married at the wonderfully quirky and historic Avon Theater in downtown Greenwich, Connecticut. Several […]

That’s the best phrase I can come up with to describe Trinity Church, the folks with whom I spent the last three days. Trinity is a funny place — I should say, they are an unlikely church in a strange […]

I’m in Greenwich, Connecticut for the next few days, speaking at various events at Trinity Church. Trinity is an exceptional church — emergent by any measure — in an area not exactly known for innovative churches. I’ve known a couple […]

So said Chuck Todd this today on Morning Joe. Consider my hometown Exhibit A. I live in Edina, Minnesota, a quintessential suburb. Southdale, the first-ever enclosed shopping mall was built here in 1956. During that same era, when my mom […]

I awoke early today, as I often do. About 4:30am. I had hoped to sleep longer since this is a tough stretch of travel for me. I spoke at the National Youth Workers Convention this weekend — after 10 years […]

Yesterday and today, I’m at the Minnesota Horse and Hunt Club on an annual outing hosted by my uncle. My dad had knee surgery last week, so he’s absent, as is my brother, Andrew. But my brother, Ted, is here, […]

My Blog Has MovedDear Readers,
After a year with Beliefnet, I've decided to move to my own domain for my blogging. It's been a fine year -- some things worked, other things didn't. But in the end, I'll be a better blogger on my own. My thanks to the Bnet editorial staff; they've been very supportive.
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Social Media for PastorsFollowing up on Christianity21, we at JoPa Productions are developing a series of boot camps for pastors who want to learn about and utilize social media tools like blogging, Twitter, and Facebook. These are one-day, hands-on learning experiences, currently offered in the Twin Cities and soon

Ending Christian Euphemisms: "Fundamentalist"I've taken some heat in the comment section for using yesterday's post on "unbiblical" and a "higher view of scripture" as a thin foil for my own disregard of biblical standards. To the contrary, I was pointing to the use of the word unbiblical as a stand-in for a particularly thin hermeneutic. Ther

Why You Should Get GENERATELast week at Christianity21, GENERATE Magazine debuted. With the tag line, "an artifact of the emergence conversation," it fit perfectly at the gathering. When I actually got around to reading it last weekend, I was truly surprised at how good it is.There have been several efforts to begin a paper j